The Children of Mount Eden - Stories
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The Children of Mount Eden
by Tomás Modesto Galán (Author), Walter Krochmal (Editor), Rhina P. Espaillat (Editor), Ramón Peralta (Illustrator), Carlos Aguasaco (Photographer), Maria Bennet (Translator), Manuel García Cartagena (Introduction), Francesca Suárez Coalla (Contributor)
Available from CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 11, 2013)
This book is a collection of stories that will echo in the hearts of all who are familiar with this kind of life, but perhaps can—even more significantly—create the illusion of an echo even in those people, who perhaps unfamiliar with this kind of life but, want to understand it, in order to know how to understand and live together with “the neighbours”, given that we are all neighbours, one of the other. For me, this is the most important and civilized function of literature: to open a door for the readers that allows them to leave their own loneliness behind and instead share the loneliness of the Other. And, Tomás Modesto Galán in this book, manages to achieve this through the voice of a child, but by the experience of an adult—and the sensibility of an artist. I love these stories, stories that with their innocence imitate so well the thinking process of children, and for the profundity of ideas that they present and challenge the intellect. They also remind me of “magical realism” with the almost human like animals in dreamed situations, but with everything, and in this respect it has its’ roots in real life, in the difficult situations that confront the immigrant, the poor and the Other.—Rhina P. Espaillat.
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About the Author
Tomás Modesto Galán is a writer from the Dominican Republic who has been residing in New York since 1986. Before coming to the U.S. he was a Professor of Spanish in the University Autónoma de Santo Domingo. After, his arrival in New York, he has taught at various colleges of the City University of New York and at Pace University. He has also served as the cultural coordinator of the Dominican Cultural Commission in the United States from 2004 to 2008. In addition he has also worked in the capacity of the Commissioner of the Latin American Literary fair, titled Libro Abierto. He founded and co-directed the literary magazine: EMEM—YA. Amongst his many published works, his book, Los Niños del Monte Edén (The Children of Mount Eden) has been translated to English by the poet María Bennett and edited by Walter Krochmall and Rhina Espiallat. Amongst his many literary works to mention a few we have: Diario de Caverna, (Diary of a Cavern, a book of poems, published in 1988). Cenizas de Viento (Wind’s Ashes, a collection of poems, published in 1983). Los Cuentos de Mount Hope (The Stories of Mount Hope—a novel, published in 1995). And, Los niños del Monte Edén (The Children of Mount Eden, a collection of short stories published in 1998). The story “Gatos” (Cats) from this collection received an honorary mention in the Casa de Teatro, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.